By Hamish mckee,Jude Jeandet and Seth Mahoney Uranus Saturn Space Neptune Jupiter Mars Earth By Hamish mckee,Jude Jeandet and Seth Mahoney Venus Mercury

SUN The Sun is a huge, glowing ball at the center of our solar system. All of the Planets orbit around it.

MERCURY Mercury is the planet nearest to the sun. It has a diameter of 3,032 miles (4,879 kilometers), about two-fifths of Earth's diameter. Mercury orbits the sun at an average distance of about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), compared with about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) for Earth.

VENUS Venus is known as the Earth's "twin" because the two planets are so similar in size. The diameter of Venus is about 7,520 miles (12,100 kilometers), approximately 400 miles (644 kilometers) smaller than that of the Earth. No other planet comes nearer to the Earth than Venus. At its closest approach, it is about 23.7 million miles (38.2 million kilometers) away.

EARTH The planet Earth is only a tiny part of the universe, but it is the home of human beings and, in fact, all known life in the universe. Animals, plants, and other organisms live almost everywhere on Earth's surface. They can live on Earth because it is just the right distance from the sun. Most living things need the sun's warmth and light for life. If Earth were too close to the sun, it would be too hot for living things. If Earth were too far from the sun, it would be too cold for anything to live. Living things also must have water to live. Earth has plenty. Water covers most of Earth's surface.

MARS Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. The planet is one of Earth's "next-door neighbours" in space. Earth is the third planet from the sun, and Jupiter is the fifth. Like Earth, Jupiter, the sun, and the remainder of the solar system, Mars is about 4.6 billion years old.

Jupiter Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. When approached from afar, its fantastic striped atmosphere gradually reveals intriguing clouds that move around the planet. Rich in historical and cultural connections, Jupiter is the site of recent comet impacts and continuing scientific discovery.

Saturn Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has the most spectacular set of rings in the solar system. We now know that Saturn has 60 moons in addition to its complex ring system.

Uranus Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, has its spin axis almost in the plane of its orbit about the Sun. This produces unusual seasons and also causes unique magnetic and electric field structures. Uranus has a faint ring system and 27 known moons.

Neptune Neptune is one of the two planets that cannot be seen without a telescope. The other is Pluto. Neptune is about 30 times as far from the sun as is Earth. Pluto is the only planet farther from the sun than Neptune. But every 248 years Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for about a 20-year period, during which it is closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto last crossed Neptune's orbit on Jan. 23, 1979, and remained within it until Feb. 11, 1999.

Black holes After a very heavy star uses up its hydrogen and explodes as a supernova, its core becomes smaller and smaller until it’s finally smaller than a head of a pin. The star, however, still has gravity. This is so strong that even light from a few kilometres around the star cannot escape. This is called a black hole.

Comets A comet is a small solar system body that orbits the sun. When close enough to the sun, a comet exhibits a visible coma (fuzzy “atmosphere”), and sometimes a tail, both because of the effects of solar radiation upon the comet’s nucleus. Comets nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust and small rocky particles, ranging from a few kilometres to tens of kilometres across.

Asteroids Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small solar system bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar system; they are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids. The term "asteroid” has historically been applied primarily to bodies in the inner Solar system was poorly known when it came into common usage. The distinction between asteroids and comets is made on visual appearance: Comets show a perceptible coma while asteroids do not.

Constellations In modern astronomy, constellations refers to an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries. The term “constellation” can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.

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